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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25281577">never give (you) up without a fight.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cnoirs/pseuds/cnoirs'>cnoirs</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, fluff with a tiny little bit of angst, someone give adrien a hug pls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 07:54:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,223</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25281577</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cnoirs/pseuds/cnoirs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel Agreste decides it's best for his son to be taught at home, claiming that studying at a school had distracted him too much that year, in hopes that this will bring some negative emotions for him to take advantage of. No matter how difficult it will be to change Mr. Agreste's mind and save Adrien from living his worst nightmare, Marinette has no intention of giving up.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir &amp; Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>117</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. one</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>sooo this is the first time i've written an mlb fanfic in a very long time, but i really enjoyed doing it so i hope yall enjoy reading it!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“What?!” Adrien cried in disbelief. He immediately regretted raising his voice in front of his father, but he was already too far into the argument to back off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nathalie and I believe you had better academic results when your lessons took place at home, so we decided it’s best for you if you return to your... old lifestyle,” Gabriel explained, as calm as ever, from the opposite end of the dining table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>His last words echoed in Adrien’s mind. </span>
  <em>
    <span>My old lifestyle.</span>
  </em>
  <span> A knot formed in his stomach once he had processed his father’s words. To have breakfast in the vast and hollow dining room by himself as Nathalie reviewed his schedule in a monotonous, robotic voice. Almost immediately after breakfast, to begin his lessons, which took place inside a room as dull and colorless as the voice teaching him. After that, another cold meal in the silence of his desolate house. Then his Chinese lessons, and piano, and fencing. A photoshoot, then more studying. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>The mere thought of returning to his old lifestyle made him feel like he was running out of air to breathe. As if he was trapped in a cell with no windows or doors. No way to escape. Sentenced to a tedious and dull life where nothing ever happened. The question was, what did he do to deserve this? What crime did he commit in his past life that he’s paying for now?</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What about my friends?” He asked in a pleading tone, his eyes beginning to sting as he thought of what his father’s answer would presumably be.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s best if you don't spend as much time with them anymore. You must focus on your studies and modeling.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien’s blood boiled as he listened to his father’s answer. ‘As much time with them’? What the hell was that even supposed to mean? He barely ever hung out with them outside of school as it was! And the way he was so calm while answering was </span>
  <em>
    <span>infuriating</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He was doing the worst thing a father could do to his son, but at least he seemed to be completely unbothered by it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien didn’t say anything, despite having one or two things he wanted to say on his mind already. He didn’t want his father to get angrier; even when it looked like things couldn’t get worse, Gabriel Agreste always found a way to prove you wrong, and Adrien wasn’t taking any chances. Besides, he had an ocean of tears threatening to fall from his eyes with the first word he spoke, and he wouldn't be able to stop them if they began to fall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien tried to slow down his breathing, but the more he tried, the more it felt like the walls around him were closing in, trapping him in. He couldn’t stand being there another second. Abruptly, he stood up from his chair and rushed out of the dining room, leaving an astounded Gabriel behind. He hurried to the door, but as he was about to get out of the mansion - that </span>
  <em>
    <span>awful </span>
  </em>
  <span>place -, his bodyguard stepped in front of him and closed the door shut. Adrien looked up at him with pleading eyes, desperate. The bodyguard didn’t look very pleased with what he had done either, but then again, he was only doing his job.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien flinched when he felt someone placing a hand on his shoulder and turned around to meet Nathalie’s cold gaze. He sent her an indignant glare through his teary eyes, not even trying to hide his anger anymore. He had always tried to be kind to her, and his father, but it appeared to be in vain because no one seemed to return that kindness to him. She started to lead him towards the stairs, but Adrien recoiled from her touch and sprinted to his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Plagg swiftly flew out of Adrien’s jacket, but before he could even take in his surroundings, the first thing he saw was a white chair flying towards him and passing right through him. He turned to Adrien, who was tossing his things off his desk with his arms in a fit of rage. Adrien turned around to his table football and with all of his strength, tried to flip it over. Plagg didn’t actually expect Adrien to make it, but a couple of seconds later, with a bit of effort, the table was turned over and the blonde next to it, on his knees. Plagg hurried to his holder’s side, concerned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien’s empty gaze was set on the floor as he tried to process everything that had just happened. He was tired of walking on eggshells all the time, trying to please everyone around him, hoping that they will return the favor and be considerate of him for once only for his hopes to be crushed most of the time.  He was tired of living in constant fear that, if he did one thing wrong, he would have his freedom taken away from him like it’s nothing (you know, just like it had happened).</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>And, with these thoughts and a million more racing through his mind, he finally let the avalanche of tears he had been trying to hold back freely stream down his cheeks as he helplessly sobbed into one hand, trying to muffle the sound.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien felt Plagg’s paws hug his cheek and wipe his tears, and some of the weight he felt on his chest was lifted. Things had changed a lot since last year. At least now that he had Plagg with him, things wouldn’t be that bad.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>The buzzing of Marinette’s phone interrupted her peaceful slumber, which painted a slight frown on her face, but she decided to ignore it and resume her sleep, turning her back on the phone. However, she had no choice but to pick up her phone after what she counted to be the sixteenth notification. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sat up with a groan and turned on her phone to see a notification of her classroom’s group chat. She assumed it was something about the beginning of the school year, nothing relevant. She opened the messages and scrolled up to get to the start of the conversation, seeing the chat filled with crying emojis and many messages sent in all caps. Marinette’s annoyance began to turn into concern as she - now more frantically - attempted to find the text that caused all those reactions. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What the hell happened?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Her heart sank when she finally read the first text of the day - it was Adrien’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>hey guys! just wanted to let you know that i’m actually not coming back to school this year, my father thinks it’s best if i go back to studying at home. but thanks for making last year so great, i had a lot of fun with you &lt;3  i’m going to miss everyone :(( </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” she breathed. “No. No no no no no--” </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marinette kept repeating that to herself, in denial, as she climbed out of her bed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>This couldn’t be happening.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She was not going to let it happen under any circumstance. She picked up her usual outfit and quickly got ready to go out, waking Tikki up with all the noise she was making - Marinette was already clumsy as it was, and being in a rush didn’t make things any better. The kwami flew to the edge of the bed to find her owner frantically running around the room, looking for her hair ties as if her life depended on them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, Marinette?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tikki, this is a disaster!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? What happened?” the kwami asked, genuinely concerned, as she looked outside the windows to check for any akuma attacks. She saw nothing. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Why else would Marinette be panicking?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s Adrien!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course it is, Tikki thought as she sighed, not expecting anything serious to be happening.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marinette went on as she brushed her hair. “His father wants to homeschool him again, which means he’s not coming to school this year, which means he won’t be going out that much anymore, and knowing how his father is he probably won’t let him out at all! And that’s like-- his worst nightmare. He barely did let him go out when Adrien was at school, what’s going to happen now? You know how upset he gets when his father locks him in like that, just imagine what he’s going through now! We </span>
  <em>
    <span>cannot </span>
  </em>
  <span>let this happen.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tikki had never heard Marinette speak that fast, but she was surprised at how well she could read Adrien. Considering how nervous she usually got around him, she did notice the little details.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>The bluenette snatched her phone from her bed and threw it in the purse before inviting Tikki to get inside too. The kwami obeyed and Marinette rushed out of her bedroom. She kissed her parents good morning and took a croissant for herself and a macaroon for Tikki from the table, only to rush out of the house without really giving her parents any explanation as to where she was headed. She didn’t really know, either, but she only realized this when her kwami popped out of her purse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Marinette!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you even have a plan?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m going to get Adrien back to school.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And how are you going to do that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marinette stopped dead in her tracks at the realization that she didn’t have a plan. She hated that her kwami had to be the voice of reason. She frowned as she tried to think of something, but soon realized she barely knew anything about the circumstances in which this chaos had happened. After a bit of thought, she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contact list.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you going to do?” she heard Tikki ask from the purse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I need more context if I want to help Adrien,” Marinette answered. She took a deep breath and ignored the knot forming in her stomach before dialing Adrien’s phone number. This wasn’t time for her fooling around Adrien. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before Tikki could even process what her holder had done (it wasn’t everyday that Marinette called him), she heard Adrien voice through Marinette’s phone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Marinette!” He chirped, a smile plastered on his face. Even through the screen, Marinette could tell it didn’t reach his eyes.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Adrien,” she mindlessly answered, still a little lost in her thoughts. She took a seat in one of the benches in the park parallel to her house and finally turned her eyes to the screen again. “I read the messages. How are you holding up?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m fine, I guess.” He sighed, glancing to something on his right that Marinette couldn’t really see. Of course Adrien wasn’t going to let her see the mess he had made of his room the previous night. As much as he trusted her, he couldn’t let her see that side of him. He couldn’t let anyone, really. “A little upset, is all.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her eyes softened. “I know…” She sighed. “Is there any way we can help?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t really think so, my father looks like he has made up his mind.” Adrien said, a little stunned by how unusually eloquent Marinette was, but happy to see she was comfortable talking to him, even if it mostly happened when it was through the phone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marinette hummed, rubbing her chin as she got lost into her thoughts again. It reminded him of Ladybug. He smiled. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did he tell you why he made that choice?” She asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He said I got better results when Nathalie was the one teaching me. He thinks I’ve been too distracted this year.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?!” Marinette cried. “But you’re the best student in our class! Not to say the whole school-- Gosh, what the heck goes through that man’s head?” She groaned, mostly talking to herself. A dark shade of scarlet painted her cheeks when she realized what she had said - in front of Adrien. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before she could blurt out an apology, Adrien chuckled. “Tell me about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marinette smiled at him, and for a moment, it was just the two of them looking at each other smile before she remembered the task at hand. “I-- uhm…” she hesitated, pulling Adrien out of the trance he had fallen into while staring at her, a slight blush flashing through his cheeks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marinette’s eyes lit up for a moment, but she frowned right after, apparently not satisfied with her idea. She turned to glance at the school and raised an eyebrow.</span>
  <em>
    <span> It’s worth a try</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “I think I have an idea to change your father’s mind.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait, what?” Adrien asked, startled. “You don’t have to do this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, but I do. And I am doing it.” She answered, as a confident smile (that Adrien found oddly familiar) started to take over her features. He let out a sigh as she hung up, but was secretly pleased Marinette was trying so hard to help him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>The joke was on him if he thought Marinette Dupain-Cheng was going to give up without a fight.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>so uhm... i'm not dead. yay!<br/>i'm really sorry it took me so long to post the second chapter, i kinda lost motivation, but i'm back!! i decided to keep writing this thanks to this comment i read as i was checking my email just this morning, so excuse me if this sounds rushed, i just got really excited about updating all of a sudden lol</p>
<p>enjoy &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Chloe, no!”</p>
<p>“Chloe, yes!”</p>
<p>Marinette pulled Chloe’s arm in an attempt to stop her, but the latter was already pulling out her phone, ready to play the ‘wait until my daddy hears about this’ card the second she walks into the teacher’s office.</p>
<p>“Chloe!” The rest of the class hissed behind Marinette, making Chloe flinch and finally put her phone away with a scowl.</p>
<p>After an emergency reunion with the classroom outside of the school, they had come to the conclusion that their best chance at getting Adrien back was to convince Mr. Agreste that his son would be better off studying at François Dupont than at home.</p>
<p>Of course, this solution wasn’t the first one to be suggested, but as excited as Kim and Alix were about breaking into Adrien’s mansion Ocean’s Eleven style and sneaking him out, Marinette was pretty sure it wasn’t legal. Nino was on Alix and Kim’s side, and also suggested doing some things to Mr. Agreste that Marinette was sure were not only illegal, but extremely graphic as well.</p>
<p>Alya did suggest Lila used her connections in the fashion world to help them convince Mr. Agreste, but much to everyone’s disappointment - except Marinette’s, who saw this coming from miles away and enjoyed seeing Lila attempt to squirm her way out of helping. Lila couldn’t do it, and also remembered on the spot that she had a very important event to host with her mother about saving turtles and fled the place, leaving her classmates dumbfounded. Marinette’s amusement was short-lived as no one questioned her excuse and rather seemed to admire Lila for doing all those great things. Still nice to see Lila struggle, she thought.</p>
<p>Everyone agreed to simply show Mr. Agreste the truth: that Adrien was a model student and that François Dupont was the best place for him to be at, both for academic and psychological reasons (the fact that it was necessary to explain why being so alone wasn’t healthy was preposterous). It was all they could do, in the end.</p>
<p>Marinette thought of presenting their plan to Ms. Bustier, certain that she will help them convince Mr. Agreste by showing him Adrien’s performance throughout the year.</p>
<p>“I can’t do that.”</p>
<p>“What?!” Marinette yelled in disbelief, eyes widening as she noticed how loudly she had spoken. The teacher raised a brow in response. “I mean, uh-- why not?” She lowered her voice with a nervous smile.</p>
<p>“I can’t simply hand the academic record of a student to others, much less to use it against the student’s legal guardian,” Ms. Bustier said, and went back to the documents on her desk.</p>
<p>Marinette opened her mouth to complain, but realized her teacher was right. It was Mr. Agreste’s choice, and she was no one to question the way he decided to educate his son.</p>
<p>“Well...” Chloe spoke up when she noticed Marinette’s eyes were glued to the floor, in what she thought to be defeat. Her classmates knew exactly what Chloe was planning, but no one stopped her that time, also thinking that Marinette had given up.</p>
<p>“I don’t think my father, the mayor of Paris, will be very pleased when he-”</p>
<p>“Don’t.”</p>
<p>Chloe turned to the bluenette in disbelief, but obeyed and turned the phone off when she met her saddened eyes. If Marinette “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing” Dupain-Cheng had lost hope, there probably wasn’t a solution - even she knew that.</p>
<p>“Ms. Bustier is right,” Marinette sighed. “She can’t go against Mr. Agreste’s wishes. It is his choice to homeschool Adrien, and she can’t do anything about that.” She glanced at Chloe, who was frowning at her, and subtly winked. Chloe was caught off-guard, but immediately understood what Marinette meant. She gave her a compliant smile.</p>
<p>“I’m glad that you understand, Marinette. I’m going to miss teaching Adrien as much as you’ll miss having him in class, but it’s inevitable.” Ms. Bustier explained with a smile.</p>
<p>Everyone sighed in disappointment, except Chloe and Alya, who seemed to be the only ones who paid attention to Marinette’s word choice. Ms. Bustier couldn’t do anything about it, but Marinette didn’t say they couldn’t.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>“Are you out of your mind?!” Nino exclaimed as they walked out of the teacher’s office, and everyone else seemed to ask themselves the same, if all the glares Marinette felt glued to her back meant anything. However, she was quick to hush him.</p>
<p>The bluenette turned around to her classmates, examining each and everyone of them with her signature combination of frowning and rubbing her chin when deep in thought. They all exchanged confused glances, but didn’t say anything. She finally snapped out of it when she heard Alix yell.</p>
<p>“Earth to Marinette?” She yelled, waving her hand in front of Marinette’s face. “Do you have a plan to save your boyfriend or are we going to stand still all day?”</p>
<p>“Of course I have a-- He’s not my boyfriend!” The bluenette exclaimed once she processed what Alix had said, her cheeks turned into a deep shade of scarlet.</p>
<p>“Yeah, whatever,” Alix rolled her eyes, and wrapped an arm around Marinette’s shoulders before the bluenette could take the argument any further. “What’s your plan B, genius?”</p>
<p>“Maybe Ms. Bustier can’t do anything to convince Mr. Agreste, but that doesn’t mean we can’t, right?” She said, turning to the rest of the class with a smile.</p>
<p>“You mean we should go talk to the man directly?” Nino raised an eyebrow.</p>
<p>“I mean, is there anything else to do?”</p>
<p>“Well…” Kim and Alix looked at each other with a mischievous grin.</p>
<p>“Guys, no.”</p>
<p>“Damnit.”</p>
<p>“Well,” Nino said. “I do have a thing or two I’d like to tell Adrien’s father-”</p>
<p>“Not so fast, Nino,” Max interrupted. “There’s only a 36% chance of us actually convincing Mr. Agreste, and as much as I agree with you, we need to keep this civilized.”</p>
<p>Nino turned to Alya and Marinette, expecting them to be on his side, but they both shook their heads.</p>
<p>“He’s right. We need to leave a good impression if we want Mr. Agreste to listen to us,” said Marinette.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Marinette’s heart was pounding so loudly in her chest, she feared her classmates behind her might hear it. She was trying so hard to bring the Ladybug in her - her confident, brave self -, but right now, having a plan didn’t seem enough to save the day. If she failed, Adrien would never go back to school, she would never ever see him again, his father would make him take some rich girl as a date in every event they went to, he would fall in love with her and--</p>
<p><em>Focus, Marinette.</em> She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell in front of the Agreste mansion, trying to ignore how sweaty her hands were. A black camera came out of the wall and focused on Marinette.</p>
<p>“U-uhm, hey,” She waved nervously, realizing how dry her throat was. She gulped. “We heard Adrien isn’t going to be coming back to school next year, and, uhm... w-we thought of visiting.”</p>
<p>Natalie hesitated on the other side of the screen. She knows she should ask her boss, but Adrien deserves to see his friends. She isn’t sure when he will get to see them again, and he’s been through enough today.</p>
<p>“Come in,” She said, pressing a button on her desk, and opening the gates into the mansion.</p>
<p>Behind Marinette, everyone cheered and walked in, excitedly talking to each other. But the bluenette was out of breath just thinking that all the weight was on her shoulders, she was the one who was leading them, and the one who would speak with Mr. Agreste. Whether Adrien came back or not depended entirely on her.</p>
<p>She looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder to see Alya and Nino looking at her. They were both giving her their best reassuring smiles, and she couldn’t help but smile back.</p>
<p>“You can do this, girl,” Alya wrapped her arm around her best friend’s shoulders and walked her into the mansion.</p>
<p>“Totally,” Nino playfully ruffled her dark hair, making her laugh. “You’re the best, Mari.” He winked.</p>
<p>“Thanks, guys.”</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Natalie knocked on Adrien’s door, but didn’t wait for an answer to walk into the room. She found Adrien laying on his bed, asleep. To say that his room was a mess would be an understatement, with books, clothes and videogames carelessly thrown to the floor - but she decided not to judge him. <em>This isn’t easy for him</em>, she reminded herself.</p>
<p>“Adrien,” She said sternly, and her voice was enough to wake him up. “Your friends are here.”</p>
<p>She didn’t wait for him to answer before walking out. Adrien smiled to himself, remembering his conversation with Marinette earlier.</p>
<p>He was too shy to admit it to himself out loud, but he felt so lucky that he had someone like her in his life. Everyone needs a Marinette in their lives, he believes. Someone to be there for them no matter what, to make them smile and always support them - someone they know they can trust. He knew for a fact he could trust her with his life.</p>
<p>“Your girlfriend finally came to the rescue,” Plagg smirked next to him.</p>
<p>“She’s not my girlfriend!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, sure.”</p>
<p>Adrien ran down the stairs to see all of his classmates at the entrance of his house. His father was in front of them, and he could see Marinette talking to him. The determined look she had in her face caught him by surprise - he’d never seen her this serious before. For a split second, he thought he saw Ladybug in her place, but quickly shook the image off of his head. They were so similar in so many ways, it was almost strange.</p>
<p>It took everyone a bit to notice Adrien standing on the staircase, they had taken turns to speak up about why they thought he should stay with them in school. He even saw Max pull out a list that reached all the way down to the floor with reasons why Adrien was better off studying at school, but Marinette laughed nervously and whispered something in his ear, making him put the list back into his bag.</p>
<p>Adrien walked up to them, and before he even had time to say ‘hello’, Nino had already jumped into his arms, pulling him into a tight hug. Everyone else followed and joined into a group hug. Adrien had to admit, it was hard to stop himself from crying. He really had the best friends in the world, huh.</p>
<p>They all quickly pulled away when they heard Mr. Agreste cough in an attempt to get their attention.</p>
<p>“As much as my son and I appreciate the effort all of you have put into… this,” He started, hesitant. “I’m afraid that my decision is still the same. I’m sorry for any inconvenience, my assistant will show you all the way out now.” Mr. Agreste said, as expressionless as ever.</p>
<p>Adrien let out a sigh, disappointed but not surprised. He was extremely thankful for all his classmates had done, and he wanted to believe it would work as much as they all did, but deep down he knew there was no way to change his father’s mind. He watched as his friends walked out, Alya trying her best to hold Nino from rushing back into the mansion (God know what he would do if Alya didn’t stop him), and Myléne and Ivan trying their best to talk to Natalie, hoping she would help. Didn’t look like she would.</p>
<p>They all had turned around the corner by the time Natalie closed the outside gates. Except Marinette. She just stood outside, looking at him. When he realized there were tears forming in her eyes, his stomach dropped.</p>
<p>“Marinette!” He yelled, before running towards her. He tried to run out of the house to get to her, but his bodyguard stopped him.</p>
<p>There was something about the way she looked at him that made his heart ache. He couldn't stand seeing Marinette like this.</p>
<p>She gave him a sad smile and waved goodbye as the doors were closing, and walked away.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yes, adrien uses &lt;33 emojis and no i'm not taking any criticism. he is BABIE, periodt</p></blockquote></div></div>
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